The present invention relates generally to the detection of abnormal or cancerous tissue and, more particularly, to the detection of changes in electrophysiological characteristics of abnormal or cancerous tissue related to the functional, structural, and topographic relationships of the tissue during the development of malignancy. These measurements may be made in the absence and/or presence of pharmacological or hormonal agents to reveal and accentuate electrophysiological characteristics indicative of abnormal or cancerous tissue.
Cancer is a leading cause of death in both men and women in the United States. Difficulty in detecting abnormal pre-cancerous or cancerous tissue before treatment options become non-viable is one reason for the high mortality rate. Detecting the presence of abnormal or cancerous tissues is difficult, in part, because such tissues are largely located deep within the body, thus requiring expensive, complex, invasive, and/or uncomfortable procedures. For this reason, the use of detection procedures is often restricted until a patient is experiencing symptoms related to the abnormal tissue. Many forms of cancers or tumors, however, require extended periods of time to attain a detectable size (and thus to produce significant symptoms or signs in the patient). It is often too late for effective treatment by the time the cancer or tumor is detected using currently available diagnostic modalities.
One proposed method for early detection of cancerous and pre-cancerous tissue includes measuring of the electrical impedance of biological tissue. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,949,736 discloses a low-level electric current passed through tissue, with a measurement of the voltage drop across the tissue providing an indirect indication of the overall tissue impedance. This method teaches that a change in impedance of the tissue is associated with an abnormal condition of the cells composing the tissue, indicating a tumor, carcinoma, or other abnormal biological condition. This disclosure, however, does not discuss either an increase or decrease in impedance associated with abnormal cells, nor does it specifically address tumor cells.
One disadvantage of this and similar systems is that the inherent DC electrical properties of the epithelium are not considered. Many common malignancies develop in an epithelium, often the cell layer that lines a hollow organ, such as the bowel, or in ductal structures, such as the breast or prostate. Epithelial tissue maintains a transepithelial electropotential (TEP) that may be altered by the malignancy process. Early in the malignant process, the epithelium may lose its transepithelial potential, particularly when compared to epithelium some distance away from the developing malignancy. Thus, the combination of transepithelial electropotential measurements with impedance may be more accurate in diagnosing pre-cancerous and cancerous conditions.
Another disadvantage of the above referenced system is that the frequency range is not defined. Certain information may be obtained about cells according to the range of frequencies selected. Different frequency bands may be associated with different structural or functional aspects of the tissue. See, for example, F. A. Duck, Physical Properties of Tissues, London: Academic Press, 2001; K. R. Foster, H. P. Schwan, Dielectric properties of tissues and biological materials: a critical review, Crit. Rev. Biomed. Eng., 1989, 17(1): 25-104. For example at high frequencies, such as >1 GHz, molecular structure has a dominating effect on the relaxation characteristics of the impedance profile. Relaxation characteristics include the delay in response of a tissue to a change in the applied electric field. For example, an applied AC current results in a voltage change across the tissue which will be delayed, or phase shifted, because of the impedance characteristics of the tissue. Relaxation and dispersion characteristics of tissue vary according to the frequency of the applied signal.
At lower frequencies, such as <100 Hz, or the so called α-dispersion range, alterations in ion transport and charge accumulations at large cell membrane interfaces dominate the relaxation characteristics of the impedance profile. In the frequency range between a few kHz and 1 MHz, or the so-called β-dispersion range, cell structure dominates the relaxation characteristics of the epithelial impedance profile. Within this range at low kHz frequencies, most of the applied current passes between the cells through the paracellular pathway and tight junctions. At higher frequencies in the β-dispersion range the current can penetrate the cell membrane and therefore passes both between and through the cells, and the current density will depend on the composition and volume of the cytoplasm and cell nucleus.
Characteristic alterations occur in the ion transport of an epithelium during the process of malignant transformation affecting the impedance characteristics of the epithelium measured at frequencies in the α-dispersion range. Later in the malignant process, structural alterations with opening of the tight junctions and decreasing resistance of the paracellular pathways, together with changes in the composition and volume of the cell cytoplasm and nucleus, affect the impedance measured in the β-dispersion range.
Another disadvantage of the above referenced system is that the topography of altered impedance is not examined. By spacing the measuring electrodes differently, the epithelium can be probed to different depths. The depth that is measured by two surface electrodes is approximately half the distance between the electrodes. Therefore, electrodes 1 mm apart will measure the impedance of the underlying epithelium to a depth of approximately 500 microns. It is known, for example, that the thickness of bowel epithelium increases at the edge of a developing tumor to 1356±208μ compared with 716±112μ in normal bowel. D. Kristt, et al. Patterns of proliferative changes in crypts bordering colonic tumors: zonal histology and cell cycle marker expression. Pathol. Oncol. Res 1999; 5(4): 297-303. By comparing the measured impedance between electrodes spaced approximately 2.8 mm apart with the impedance of electrodes spaced approximately 1.4 mm apart, information about the deeper and thickened epithelium may be obtained. See, for example, L. Emtestam & S. Ollmar. Electrical impedance index in human skin: measurements after occlusion, in 5 anatomical regions and in mild irritant contact dermatitis. Contact Dermatitis 1993; 28(2): 104-108.
Another disadvantage of the above referenced methods is that they do not probe the specific conductive pathways that are altered during the malignant process. For example, potassium conductance is reduced in the surface epithelium of the colon early in the malignant process.
Other patents, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,955,383 and 5,099,844, disclose that surface electropotential measurements may be used to diagnose cancer. Empirical measurements, however, are difficult to interpret and use in diagnosis. For example, the above referenced inventions diagnose cancer by measuring voltage differences (differentials) between one region of the breast and another and then comparing them with measurements in the opposite breast. Changes in the measured surface potential may be related to differences in the impedance characteristics of the overlying skin. This fact is ignored by the above referenced and similar inventions, resulting in a diagnostic accuracy of 72% or less. J. Cuzick et al. Electropotential measurements as a new diagnostic modality for breast cancer. Lancet 1998; 352(9125): 359-363; M. Faupel et al. Electropotential evaluation as a new technique for diagnosing breast lesions. Eur. J. Radiol. 1997; 24 (1): 33-38.
Other inventions that use AC measurement, such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,308,097, also have a lower accuracy than may be possible with a combination of DC potential measurements and AC impedance measurements. The above referenced system diagnoses cancer by only measuring decreased impedance (increased conductance) over a cancer.
Another potential source of information for the detection of abnormal tissue is the measurement of transport alterations in the mucosa. Epithelial cells line the surfaces of the body and act as a barrier to isolate the body from the outside world. Not only do epithelial cells serve to insulate the body, but they also modify the body's environment by transporting salts, nutrients, and water across the cell barrier while maintaining their own cytoplasmic environment within fairly narrow limits. One mechanism by which the epithelial layer withstands the constant battering is by continuous proliferation and replacement of the barrier. This continued cell proliferation may partly explain why more than 80% of cancers are of epithelial cell origin.
It is known that the addition of serum to quiescent fibroblasts results in rapid cell membrane depolarization. Cell membrane depolarization is an early event that may be associated with cell division. Depolarization induced by growth factors appears biphasic in some instances, but cell division may be stimulated without depolarization. Cell membrane depolarization is temporally associated with Na+ influx, and the influx persists after repolarization has occurred. Although the initial Na+ influx may result in depolarization, the increase in sodium transport may not cease once the cell membrane has been repolarized, possibly due to Na/K ATPase pump activation. Other studies also support that Na+ transport is altered during cell activation. In addition to altered Na+ transport, transport of K+ and of Cl− is altered during cell proliferation.
A number of studies have demonstrated that proliferating cells are relatively depolarized when compared to those that are quiescent or non-dividing. Differentiation is associated with the expression of specific ion channels. Additional studies indicate that cell membrane depolarization occurs because of alterations in ionic fluxes, intracellular ionic composition, and transport mechanisms that are associated with cell proliferation.
Intracellular Ca2+ (Ca2+i) and intracellular pH (pHi) are increased by mitogen activation. Cell proliferation may be initiated following the activation of phosphatidylinositol which releases two second messengers, 1,2-diacylglycerol and inosotol-1,4,5-triphosphate, which trigger Ca2+i release from internal stores. Ca+ i and pHi may then alter the gating of various ion channels in the cell membrane, which are responsible for maintaining the voltage of the cell membrane. Therefore, there is the potential for interaction between other intracellular messengers, ion transport mechanisms, and cell membrane potential. Most studies have been performed in transformed and cultured cells and not in intact epithelia during the development of cancer, so that it is largely unknown how up-regulated proliferation affects cell membrane potential, transepithelial potential, epithelial impedance, and ion transport during carcinogenesis.
It was known that cancer cells are relatively depolarized compared to non-transformed cells (56-58). It has been suggested that sustained cell membrane depolarization results in continuous cellular proliferation and that malignant transformation results as a consequence of sustained depolarization and a failure of the cell to repolarize after cell division. C. D. Cone Jr., Unified theory on the basic mechanism of normal mitotic control and oncogenesis. J. Theor. Biol. 1971; 30(1): 151-181; C. D. Cone Jr., C. M. Cone. Induction of mitosis in mature neurons in central nervous system by sustained depolarization. Science 1976; 192(4235): 155-158; C. D. Cone, Jr. The role of the surface electrical transmembrane potential in normal and malignant mitogenesis. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 1974; 238: 420-435. A number of studies have demonstrated that cell membrane depolarization occurs during transformation and carcinogenesis. Other studies have demonstrated that a single ras-mutation may result in altered ion transport and cell membrane depolarization. Y. Huang, S. G. Rane, Single channel study of a Ca(2+)-activated K+ current associated with ras induced cell transformation. J. Physiol. 1993; 461: 601-618. For example, there is a progressive depolarization of the colonocyte cell membrane during 1,2 dimethylhydrazine (DMH)-induced colon cancer in CF1 mice. The VA (apical membrane voltage) measured with intracellular microelectrodes in histologically “normal” colonic epithelium depolarized from −74.9 mV to −61.4 mV after 6 weeks of DMH treatment and to −34 mV by 20 weeks of treatment.
While epithelial cells normally maintain their intracellular sodium concentration within a narrow range, electronmicroprobe analysis shows that cancer cells exhibit cytoplasmic sodium/potassium ratios that are three to five times greater than those found in their non-transformed ones. These observations partly explain the electrical depolarization observed in malignant or pre-malignant tissues, because of the loss of K+ or Na+ gradients across the cell membrane.
In addition to cell membrane depolarization, and altered intracellular ionic activity, other studies have shown that there may be a decrease in electrogenic sodium transport and activation of non-electrogenic transporters during the development of epithelial malignancies(52). These changes may occur as a consequence of altered intracellular ionic composition. Other specific ion transport alterations have been described in colon, prostate, breast, uterine cervix, melanoma, urothelium, and pancreas during proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, and carcinogenesis.
Apoptosis or physiological cell death is down-regulated during the development of malignancy. Ion transport mechanisms affected by apoptosis include the influx of Ca2+, non-selective Ca2+-permeable cation channels, calcium-activated chloride channels(102), and K+-Cl−-cotransport. J. A. Kim et al. Involvement of Ca2+ influx in the mechanism of tamoxifen-induced apoptosis in Hep2G human hepatoblastoma cells. Cancer Lett. 1999; 147(1-2): 115-123; A. A. Gutierrez et al. Activation of a Ca2+-permeable cation channel by two different inducers of apoptosis in a human prostatic cancer cell line. J. Physiol. 1999; 517 (Pt. 1): 95-107; J. V. Tapia-Vieyra, J. Mas-Oliva. Apoptosis and cell death channels in prostate cancer. Arch. Med. Res. 2001; 32(3): 175-185; R. C. Elble, B. U. Pauli. Tumor Suprression by a Proapoptotic Calcium-Activated Chloride Channel in Mammary Epithelium. J. Biol. Chem. 2001; 276(44): 40510-40517.
Loss of cell-to-cell communication occurs during carcinogenesis. This results in defective electrical coupling between cells, which is mediated via ions and small molecules through gap junctions, which in turn influences the electrical properties of epithelia.
Polyps or overtly malignant lesions may develop in a background of disordered proliferation and altered transepithelial ion transport. Experimental animal studies of large bowel cancer have demonstrated that transepithelial depolarization is an early feature of the pre-malignant state. In nasal polyp studies, the lesions had a higher transepithelial potential, but these lesions were not pre-malignant in the same sense as an adenomatous or pre-malignant colonic polyp, that are usually depolarized. Electrical depolarization has been found in biopsies of malignant breast tissue. Recently alterations in impedance have been found to be associated with the pre-malignant or cancerous state in breast and bowel.
DC electrical potential alterations have been reported to be useful to diagnose non-malignant conditions such as cystic fibrosis, cancer in animal models, human cells or isolated tissue, and in man. Differences in impedance between normal tissue and cancer have been described in animal models in vitro and have been applied to in vivo cancer diagnosis. DC potential measurements have not been combined with impedance measurements to diagnose cancer, however, because electrophysiological alterations that accompany the development of cancer are generally not fully characterized. Transepithelial depolarization is an early event during carcinogenesis, which may affect a significant region of the epithelium (a “field defect”). This depolarization is accompanied by functional changes in the epithelium including ion transport and impedance alterations. Early on in the process these take the form of increased impedance because of decreased specific electrogenic ion transport processes. As the tumor begins to develop in the pre-malignant epithelium, structural changes occur in the transformed cells such as a breakdown in tight junctions and nuclear atypia. The structural changes result in a marked reduction in the impedance of the tumor. The pattern and gradient of electrical changes in the epithelium permit the diagnosis of cancer from a combination of DC electrical and impedance measurements. Another reason that DC electropotential and impedance measurements have not been successfully applied to cancer diagnosis is that transepithelial potential and impedance may be quite variable and are affected by the hydration state, dietary salt intake, diurnal or cyclical variation in hormonal level, or non-specific inflammatory changes and other factors. In the absence of knowledge about the physiological variables which influence transepithelial potential and impedance these kinds of measurements may not be reliable to diagnose pre-malignancy or cancer. Furthermore a detailed understanding of the functional and morphological alterations that occur during carcinogenesis permits appropriate electrical probing for a specifically identified ion transport change that is altered during cancer development. For example knowledge that electrogenic sodium absorption is reduced during cancer development in the colon permits the use of sodium channel blockers (e.g., amiloride) or varying sodium concentration in the ECM to examine whether there is an inhibitable component of sodium conductance. By varying the depth of the measurement (by measuring the voltage drop across differently space electrodes), it is possible to obtain topographic and depth information about the cancerous changes in the epithelium.
The diagnostic accuracy of current technology using DC electropotentials or impedance alone has significant limitations. Sensitivity and specificity for DC electrical measurements in the breast have been reported as 90% and 55% respectively and 93% and 65% for impedance measurements. This would result in an overall diagnostic accuracy of between 72-79%, which is probably too low to result in widespread adoption. J. Cuzick et al. Electropotential measurements as a new diagnostic modality for breast cancer. Lancet 1998; 352 (9125): 359-363; A. Malich et al. Electrical impedance scanning for classifying suspicious breast lesions: first results. Eur. Radiol. 2000; 10(10): 1555-1561. The combination of DC electrical potentials and impedance spectroscopy may result in a diagnostic accuracy of greater than 90% which will lead to improved clinical utility.
Thus, there remains a need for effective, practical methods of detecting abnormal tissue.